1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a prefabricated bird house. In particular, the invention pertains to a prefabricated bird house capable of easy assembly by means of integral locking structure thereby eliminating the need for additional tools or parts for assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Birds are usually welcomed guests at a person""s property. Their calls to each other provide entertainment and their colors and markings can be pleasing to the eye. More importantly, birds typically consume insect pests, which facilitates insect-free entertaining outdoors and prevents the spread of disease by insect carriers. Thus, bird houses are often constructed and placed in such a manner to attract birds to a property for nesting purposes.
The prior art discloses a variety of pre-assembled housing structures for accommodating different species of birds. The bird houses of the prior art are typically made of wood, plastic or other rigid material which is relatively bulky. These characteristics of the traditional bird house have certain disadvantages. The rigidity, bulk and weight of such bird houses creates disadvantageous economies in respect to the storage, transport and ease of use of the bird house. A bird fancier who desires to purchase a bird house may be concerned with transportability, not only from the store to home or other location of use, but from place to place as the user may have a temporary or permanent relocation of the site where the bird house will be used. It would be a desirable improvement to provide a bird house which is prefabricated and easily disassembled for storage or transport and then easily reassembled at its site of use.
The present invention solves the prior art problems discussed above and provides a distinct advance in the state of the art. In particular, the bird house hereof enables ease of assembly, storage and transport.
The preferred embodiment includes a prefabricated bird house comprising a housing that defines a bird nesting enclosure and includes a plurality of walls. The housing further defines an access hole for permitting ingress and egress of birds. Each pair of adjacent walls present at least one pair of complemental latch elements that are configured for latching interengagement when the adjacent walls are assembled. When the latch elements are in latching interengagement, the walls are interconnected in such a manner that they are permitted to shift freely lengthwise relative to one another, but are prevented from shifting in a generally transverse, lateral direction. A method of mounting the bird house of the present invention on a support is also described.